Britain's FTSE 100 index turned positive at mid-session today after three days of losses, boosted by hopes for an economic upturn and a rally for Vodafone.
The mobile phone heavyweight was up 3.2 per cent, adding 10 points to the main index in anticipation of it writing down assets when it reports results next week.
By mid-morning, the FTSE 100 was up 21.9 points or 0.42 per cent at 5,230, battling back from an early dip to 5,187.6 to settle in the top half of its medium-term 5,000-5,400 point range. Market volume was a modest 880 million shares.
Firm US index futures, pointing to a steady Wall Street opening, underpinned the British market, but there were lingering concerns about the progress being made in earnings.
The rally in Vodafone fed through into other telecom shares. BT Group rose 2.1 per cent, and mmO2 added 2.7 per cent.
Elsewhere, British Airways (BA) slipped 4.4 per cent to 227p as steep falls in US airline stocks yesterday prodded investors to cash in on BA's advance from 215p last week.